American Go E-Journal » World

Congratulations to Go Game Guru, which recently celebrated its third birthday. “When we started this project, we set out with the idea of building a sustainable business that exists to promote go worldwide,” writes GGG founder David Ormerod. While conceding that “I didn’t fully anticipate exactly how much work that would be, or how long it would take to get certain things done,” Ormerod says the GGG team and systems “are running very smoothly at last, which frees up a lot of time to improve how we’re doing things and to work on new stuff.” That includes new go equipment in the GGG store, more articles for beginners and intermediate players, and affordable, basic equipment for beginners. Perhaps GGG’s most ambitious idea is one that the E-Journal strongly supports as well: worldwide go demonstrations on the same weekend in 2014. Stay tuned for more details. Meanwhile, happy birthday to Go Game Guru and best wishes to the team for many happy returns!- Chris Garlock, Managing Editor, American Go E-Journal

GoGameGuru – which just celebrated its third birthday — will be sponsoring the August qualifier for the KGS 2013 Meijin tournament. GoGameGuru’s August round has 34 entrants thus far, with ranks up to 8 dan. The single-elimination tournament will take place August 24-25, the registration is still open; see the tournament web page for more details.

The delicate dance between Hui Fan 7d (left), Pavol Lisy 6d, and Mateusz Surma 6d at this year’s European Go Congress in Olsztyn ended on August 10 when Fan snagged the spotlight after a final showdown with Lisy. It is Fan’s third title in three weeks and the second time he and Lisy have had a face-off. Unfortunately for Lisy, Fan repeated his performance at the Beijing 2013 qualification tournament on July 22 and successfully edged him out.

Though fan favorite Ilja Shikshin 7d fell short of the top five in the main tournament, he won both the weekend tournament and the blitz knock-out. In the U18 tournament, fellow Russian Alexandr Vashurov 5d took first while Jonas Welticke 5d placed second and Roman Lemasson 3d came in third.

For photos and full results from all the go tournaments at this year’s European Go Congress, visit the EGC 2013 official website.–Annalia Linnan, photo courtesy of EuroGoTV

Although the MLily Cup final won’t be played until later this year it’s already clear that a Chinese player will be champion. That’s because China claimed all eight quarterfinal places at the first MLily Cup on August 9. Only two Korean players, Choi Cheolhan 9p and Cho Hanseung 9p, (left) and one Japanese player, Yuki Satoshi 9p, made it into the final 16, and all fell to Chinese challengers.

Morale is especially low in Korea as the same circumstances occurred at the 18th LG Cup when Lee Sedol 9p was defeated by Tuo Jiaxi 3p in the second round. In the MLily Cup, Lee was defeated in the second round by seventeen-year-old Mi Yuting 4p. While sharp, young up-and-comers like Mi are one reason China has been slicing up the competition lately, “speculation in Korea is that the ever increasing prevalence of lightning games…is making it harder for their players to compete in these (relatively slower) international matches.”

Among the MLily Cup’s final eight are the formidable Gu Li 9p and Zhou Ruiyang 9p. Considered one of the top players in the world, Gu’s unique style (described as “romantic” by Go Game Guru) makes him especially elusive while Zhou has consistently been one of China’s top players since 2005. In the August 11 quarterfinals, Mi Yuting defeated Dang Yifei, Zhou Ruiyang defeated Lian Xiao, Gu Li defeated Wang Lei and Wang Xi defeated Wu Guangyya. Gu Li will play Zhou Ruiyang and Wang Xi will play Mi Yuting in the semifinals in September 2013. The semifinals will be best of three matches and the final will be best of five. The exact date for the final hasn’t been decided yet.

- Annalia Linnan, based on a longer article on Go Game Guru which includes photos and game records; photo courtesy of Go Game Guru

This Sunday, August 18 is the deadline to register for the SportAccord-Pandanet Cup Go Online Tournament (SportAccord-Pandanet Cup Online Go Tournament Registration Opens 6/30 EJ). Preliminary rounds will be played August 22 through September 12. This tournament is supported by SportAccord and Pandanet and organized by the International Go Federation and Pandanet. It also concurrently serves as the 18th Pandanet Cup Internet World Amateur Go Tournament. Participants must be amateurs and may choose to enter one of four classes (“bands”): Open, 2d-3k, 4k-7k, 8k-17k. Except in the Open class, players are required to have a registered and Pandanet-confirmed rank. In addition, players may choose one of three geographic regions to play their games. Generous prizes are provided by the sponsors, including a round trip to the third Beijing SportAccord World Mind Games for the Open champion. Further prizes are provided for regional and class winners. Click here for details and registration forms.

In the Samsung preliminaries that finished yesterday, U.S. player Eric Lui won against Ben Lockhart, also from the U.S. In the other 18 groups, China took 11, Korea 6, and Japan 1. These 19 winners will join the 13 seeded players in the next round, to be held in Shanghai September 3-5. Other highlights from the preliminaries include the re-emergence of Seo Bongsu and Komatsu Hideki, two popular players from yesteryear. “We’re tremendously proud of both Eric and Ben,” said American Go Association President Andy Okun. “We look forward to following Eric this fall.” Click here for the Lui-Lockhart game record.- Thomas Hsiang; photo courtesy Cyberoro, which has a full report (in Korean); there’s also a report on newscj.com
NOTE: updated 8/8 9:22a (PST) with new photo and link to Cyberoro

Eric Lui and Ben Lockhart both won in the second round of the Samsung preliminary (U.S. 2-3 in Samsung Prelims After First Round 8/5 EJ). They will play each other on Wednesday with the winner advancing to the 32-player main tournament in September.- Thomas Hsiang

U.S. players Benjamin Lockhart and Eric Lui defeated Rob van Zeist (Netherlands) and Cristian Pop (Romania) in the “world group” of the Samsung preliminary in the first round on August 5. In other world group play, Oleg Mezhov (Russia) defeated Yinli Wang (US) and Jan Hora (Czech) defeated Yunxuang Li (US); the next round on Tuesday will pit Mezhov vs. Lockhart and Lui vs. Hora. The only US professional playing in the preliminary, Zhujiu (Jujo) Jiang, lost in the first round Sunday to Komatsu Hideki of Japan.- reported by Thomas Hsiang

Hui Fan 7d (left) is on fire lately. On top of his recent Leksand Open and EGF Qualification for Beijing 2013 wins, Fan has climbed to the top of the leader board for the main tournament at the 2013 European Go Congress underway in Poland. Behind him are Antti Tormanen 6d and former first place holder Mateusz Surma 6d. However, formidable contenders Ilja Shikshin 7d, Alexandr Dinerchtein 7d, and Ondrej Silt 6d hold sixth, seventh, and eighth. Twenty-year-old Lukas Kräemer 5d is also closing in on the top ten. The main tournament recommences on August 5 at 10 A.M. local time.

Meanwhile, the weekend tournament finished August 4 with Shikshin in first, Fan in second, and Ali Jabarin 6d in third. For the latest updates, full results, photos, and more, visit the official 2013 European Go Congress website.– Annalia Linnan; photo courtesy EuroGoTV

Wu Poyi carried the flag for Taiwan at this year’s Japanese Amateur Meijin. Coming to Tokyo by way of Miaoli County, he represented Hong Mal-geun-saem’s dojo in the final face-off against Korean-born Osaka resident Hong Suk-eui (left). More than an east vs. west grudge match, though, Poyi had everything to gain. This was his first major amateur tournament in Japan and Suk-eui has held the title for the last two years.

As if that were not enough, Suk-eui has also enjoyed extreme success in the Agon Kiriyama Cup when he defeated seven pros including a victory over a 9-dan that put him in the top 16, not to mention the half dozen amateur titles he has won in his home country. A tall order for any challenger. “If I lose to him, it will be only natural,” Poyi said.

Though Poyi fought hard in the first game and had a decent lead in the second game, Suk-eui won both games by resignation. He is the first player to win the Amateur Meijin three times and hopes next year to make it four. For more about Poyi and the 2013 Amateur Meijin, visit the official IGF website.– Annalia Linnan, based on a report by the International Go Federation